About me

This blogname was derived from the novel The Secret Life Of Saeed The Pessoptimist by the Palestinian Israeli Emile Habiby: absurdism as weapon against the (ir)realities of daily life in Palestine/Israel. (The subtitle is from a book by Dutch author Renate Rubinstein. It could as well be my motto).
My real name is Martin (Maarten Jan) Hijmans. I've been covering the ME since 1977 and have been a correspondent in Cairo. I started my 'Abu Pessoptimist' blog in January 2009 out of anger during the onslaught in Gaza. The other one, The Pessoptmist, is meant to be a sister version in English. (En voor de Nederlandstaligen: ik wilde in november 2009 een tweede blog in het Engels beginnen en ontdekte te laat dat als je één account hebt, een profiel dan meteen ook voor allebei de blogs geldt. Vandaar dat het nu ineens in het Engels is... So sorry.)

Monday, January 4, 2016

Israel destroys two homes of families of Palestinian attackers in Jerusalem

Israeli forces on Monday demolished the family home of a Palestinian attacker killed in October and sealed off the home of another attacker's family with cement, the families told Ma'an.
The homes, in the Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood of East Jerusalem, belonged to relatives of Alaa Abu Jamal and Baha Elayyan who were both shot dead on Oct. 13 after carrying out separate attacks that left four Israelis dead. The Israeli authorities have been holding the bodies of Alaa Abu Jamal and Baha Elayyan since they were shot dead in another controversial Israeli practice that has been seen by some as further raising tensions.
Israeli forces reportedly stormed the homes and ordered the families to evacuate them before they proceeded with the demolitions. Abu Jamal's family told Ma'an that Israeli forces sealed with cement the home of Safa Abu Jamal, Alaa's sister, after claiming to have secret information that it belonged to her slain brother.The home consisted of one floor and three apartments. It was inhabited by Safa, her husband, and their two children.Meanwhile, the father of Baha Elayyan told Ma'an that his family had been ordered to evacuate his home while Israeli forces demolished its interior walls. The home is an apartment on the second floor of a three-story building, measuring 130 square meters and currently housing eight family members.
Punitive home demolitions were expedited at the request of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in mid-October, and many have been carried out since.The move came despite past recommendations by an Israeli military committee that the practice does not deter attacks.While
families who receive demolition orders are given the opportunity to appeal the measures, Israel’s High Court of Justice typically rejects such appeals, according to Israeli watchdog Hamoked. Israeli
rights group B’Tselem condemned the practice in October as "court sanctioned revenge," carried out on family members who have not committed crimes, amounting to collective punishment.

Israeli settlers on Sunday made a number of breaches through the wall of a Palestinian home belonging to Noura Sub Laban in the Old City of Jerusalem, family members told Ma'an.Noura's son, Ahmad Sub Laban, said the family was shocked to find at least six breaches through the wall, which borders a property that was taken over by settlers just two weeks ago. Ahmad said the family called Israeli police, who arrived on the scene and asked that the settlers repair the damage without bringing any formal procedures against them,despite the settlers admitting to breaching the wall.

Israeli military prosecutors on Sunday charged two Palestinian 12-year-old boys with attempted murder and possession of knives, the prisoners' rights group Addameer said. A lawyer for the
group, Muhammad Mahmoud, told Ma'an that the charges were among those submitted to the Jerusalem central court against Shadi Farrah and Ahmad Zatari, both 12 years old.The court judge decided to send Farrah to a reformatory in Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem and Zatari to a reformatory in Tamara in Israel.Amjad Abu Asab, who heads an East Jerusalem committee for prisoners' families, said that both children were detained last Wednesday and were "interrogated in the absence of adult family members and lawyers, which is a serious violation of Israeli law and international law.Abu Asab added that the Jerusalem central court had also ordered each of the boys' families to pay a bail of 5,000 shekels and sign a bail of 10,000 shekels.